Rumours started floating after student Lujendra Ojha was spotted as one of the many invited to attend. Ojha originally spotted potential signs of water on Mars during his undergraduate degree, leading to NASA’s investigation into the possibility.

The effects of water on Mars today could be huge. It would allow massive terraform projects to happen on the planet by planting trees and growing plants, creating an ecosystem that is friendly to humans. Currently, the atmosphere on Mars would be unable to sustain human life.

Oxygen is the key component missing from Mars’ atmosphere, but by planting a huge amount of trees that may change in a few hundred years. Elon Musk and other space engineers believe humans will be able to live on Mars much sooner than that, with sheltered hubs.

Of course, the discovery may be that water was on Mars hundreds if not thousands of years ago, as predicted by NASA a few months ago. The space department claimed that way back before humans lived on Earth, a fifth of Mars was covered in water.

For alien fans, the potential of water on Mars doesn’t mean life existed on the planet, although it does make it more possible. Was that life anywhere near as advanced as ours? We suspect not — NASA hasn’t found any evidence to suggest there was life, not even a tiny green alien fossil — though life could have lived and died through Mars millions of years ago, as has happened on Earth, leaving little trace.